Farmington Hills, Mich., May 19, 2011 – Gale, part of Cengage Learning, and Library Media Connection magazine are calling all media specialists and educators at K-12 public and private schools in the U.S. and Canada to share their collaboration success stories and submit for the 2011 TEAMS Award – Teachers and Media Specialists Influencing Student Achievement. The TEAMS Award recognizes teacher–media specialist teams in elementary, middle and high school settings for their critical collaboration to promote learning and achievement. Examples of winning collaborations include using large print books to improve student reading scores, integrating electronic and print reference resources into classroom learning and utilizing libraries to explore world cultures. The three winning teams will each receive a cash award, Gale products, a one-year subscription to Library Media Connection and the Educator's Professional Bookshelf from Linworth Publishing. In addition, the winners will be featured in an article in Library Media Connection. Awards will be presented at a special reception held in conjunction with this year’s American Association of School Librarians annual conference.

What: Gale/Library Media Connection 2011 TEAMS Award honoring teachers and media specialists influencing student achievement through collaboration. The nomination may be submitted by a library media specialist, teacher, principal, student or parent for work done in the 2009-10 or 2010-11 school year. There is no entry fee; however each nomination packet must include six copies of each:
• Completed submission form with appropriate attachments
• One-page letter of recommendation from school's principal or assistant principal on school letterhead
• Signed release form (available at www.galeschools.com/TEAMS) for each person involved
• Photograph of the collaborating media specialist/teaching team

Who: All public and private K-12 schools in the U.S. and Canada. Find complete submission information including entry forms and past winners online at www.galeschools.com/TEAMS

When: All entries must be post-marked by June 30, 2011. Winners will be announced in October 2011 at the American Association of School Librarians annual conference in Minneapolis, MN.

Why: Collaboration among teachers and media specialists is critical to promote learning, increase student achievement and help students develop 21st century skills. Gale and Library Media Connection want to honor teacher–librarian teams for their hard work and dedication.

Details: Please contact Kristina Massari at kristina.massari@cengage.com for more information or with questions about the award.

About Cengage Learning and Gale
Cengage Learning is a leading provider of innovative teaching, learning and research solutions for the academic, professional and library markets worldwide. Gale, part of Cengage Learning, serves the world's information and education needs through its vast and dynamic content pools, which are used by students and consumers in their libraries, schools and on the Internet. It is best known for the accuracy, breadth and convenience of its data, addressing all types of information needs – from homework help to health questions to business profiles – in a variety of formats. For more information, visit www.cengage.com or www.gale.cengage.com.

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~EBSCO Information Services accepts the role as NASIG’s first organizational member~

Birmingham, Ala., – May 19, 2011 – EBSCO is pleased to be accepted as the first organizational member of The North American Serials Interest Group, Inc. (NASIG). In this capacity, EBSCO supports the continuing education about serials, electronic resources and standards issues that affect libraries, publishers and vendors.

As an organizational member, EBSCO may designate three individuals as NASIG members. To serve as its organizational members to NASIG, EBSCO has selected Kittie Henderson, M.L.S., director, academic and law divisions, EBSCO; Allyson Zellner, M.L.I.S., training specialist, EBSCO; and Dave Kerin, vice president of sales, North America, EBSCO. “As an intermediary, we are pleased to support communication among all parties involved in the information supply and management chain,” said Henderson.

Membership benefits include the right to vote in NASIG elections and discounts on conferences and webinars hosted by NASIG. Members also receive reduced rates on events hosted by partner organizations, such the National Information Standards Organization (NISO) and the United Kingdom Serials Group (UKSG).

“The NASIG executive board continues to seek new ways to increase participation from our non-library-based colleagues. We hope that the organizational membership category will make membership more attractive to our publisher, aggregator, subscription agent, book wholesaler, hosting agent and other partners.” said Katy Ginanni, NASIG president. “Through the help of organizational partners like EBSCO, we’re able to further discussion about serials and electronic resource issues that might not otherwise reach a broad audience.”

NASIG, established in 1985, holds an annual conference for its members and those concerned about issues affecting the scholarly information chain. This year’s conference is June 2-5 in St. Louis.

About EBSCO
Established in 1944, EBSCO is the world’s leading information agent, providing consultative services and cutting-edge technology for managing and accessing quality content, including print and e-journals, e-packages, research databases, eBooks and more. Now more than ever libraries and research organizations are looking for new ways to manage their collections more efficiently. EBSCO has developed the most comprehensive “e” discovery and management solutions, offering unparalleled integration to help librarians save time and money while empowering their users.

EBSCO serves clients in more than 200 countries through our 31 offices worldwide with more than 140 librarians on staff. To learn more about EBSCO’s products and services, visit www.ebsco.com.

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For more information, please contact:
Heather Klusendorf
Media Relations Coordinator
EBSCO Corporate Communications
www.twitter.com/EBSCOInfoSvcs
hklusendorf@ebsco.com
205.995.1539

May 17th, 2011
CONTACT:
Nathan Curulla
(888) 900-8944
sales@bywatersolutions.com

The San Benito County Free Library Goes Live on Koha with ByWater Solutions

ByWater Solutions, an open source community supporter and official Koha support company, announced today that the San Benito County Free Library of Hollister, CA. is now live on their official Koha integrated library system.

The San Benito County Free Library and the Open Source-Open Libraries Consortium have partnered with ByWater Solutions for their Koha implementation.

The San Benito Country Free Library's Koha installation was successfully implemented and the library has partnered with ByWater Solutions for ongoing support and hosting services.

Lori Ayre of the Open Source Open Libraries Consortium commented on San Benito's recent migration to Koha with ByWater Solutions:

"At some libraries, the cost of migration makes it impossible to move to a new system even when that new system will save them a lot of money. This was the case for San Benito; But ByWater has bent over backwards to make it possible for San Benito to migrate to Koha and I'm delighted that they'll be saving almost $20,000 per year as result of this move."

Brendan Gallagher, CEO of ByWater added: "We constantly strive to offer our high levels of support to our customers at a lower cost. By streamlining our internal business processes and focusing our internal growth on bringing on multi talented support personnel we are able to achieve that goal."

About San Benito Free Library:
San Benito County Free Library provides more than 90,856 books, magazines, newspapers, DVD/VHS videos (in English, Japanese, and Spanish), compact discs, newsletters, college catalogs, CD-ROM computer programs, encyclopedias, and information brochures available for the public.

About Open Source-Open Libraries:
Open Source – Open Libraries is a consortia of libraries, library systems, and other organizations committed to pursuing Open Source Software alternatives for libraries. The primary focus of the project is on Open Source Library Systems as potential replacements for commercial, proprietary integrated library systems (ILS). The goal is to empower libraries and library consortia by encouraging participation and collaboration in software products generally, and encouraging them to consider an Open Source Library System such as Koha or Evergreen. Just as libraries provide opportunities for people to empower themselves, Open Source Software provides an opportunity for libraries to empower themselves by asserting more control over the software tools used to run their libraries. The project is funded by member contributions combined with support from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, administered in California by the State Librarian. For more information please visit: http://opensource.califa.org/

About Koha:
Koha is the first open-source Integrated Library System (ILS). In use worldwide, its development is steered by a growing community of libraries collaborating to achieve their technology goals. Koha's impressive feature set continues to evolve and expand to meet the needs of its user base. It includes modules for circulation, cataloging, acquisitions, serials, reserves, patron management, branch relationships, and more.

Koha’s OPAC, circulation, management and self-checkout interfaces are all based on standards-compliant World Wide Web technologies--XHTML, CSS and Javascript--making Koha a truly platform-independent solution. Koha is distributed under the open-source General Public License (GPL). For more information about Koha, please visit: http://www.koha-community.org

About ByWater Solutions:
With over 10 years of experience, ByWater Solutions offers customized hosting, data migration, configuration, installation, training, support options and development of enterprise class open-source library systems. Offering a 24/7 technical helpline, ByWater Solutions’ clients have the support system they need to make their software work for them. ByWater Solutions pledges to share 100% of all developed code to the Koha community for the strengthening and advancement of the Koha ILS. For more information about ByWater Solutions, please visit: http://www.bywatersolutions.com

Interviews with the “Green Giants” of Our Time to be Available in GREENR

Farmington Hills, Mich., May 16, 2011 — Gale, part of Cengage Learning, and TheGreenInterview.com, a Canadian subscription website offering unparalleled information on environmental subjects, today announced an agreement to enhance the content of GREENR, Gale’s electronic resource offering authoritative reference content in the area of sustainable development, the environment, energy and natural resources.

TheGreenInterview.com will be providing Gale with video interviews covering a range of issues connected to our planet, humans on Earth, damage to our ecosystem, alternative development ideas, sustainability and more. Transcripts and audio (MP3) files of the video content and biographies of the interviewees in each video segment will also be available. Additional Green Interview content will be added to GREENR in the future, as it is produced. The agreement also licenses to Gale two blogs from TheGreenInterview.com that discuss current and past environmental topics and developments.

“As a leading resource in a highly dynamic field, GREENR is the place-of-record for innovative global thinking about the environment,” said Jim Draper, vice president and publisher, Gale. “We are excited to bring this powerful and privileged content from our Canadian colleagues at TheGreenInterview.com to our GREENR customers.”

TheGreenInterview.com, hosted by noted author, speaker and educator Silver Donald Cameron, provides an e-newsletter and video series that captures, in interview form, the ideas of the world’s most prominent advocates of sustainability and environmental protection. The shows are produced and directed by Chris Beckett, and released in association with Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

“We’re delighted by this new relationship with Gale, who provides such great resources to the libraries of the world,” said Silver Donald Cameron, host and executive producer of TheGreenInterview.com. “Working with Gale puts our material into thousands of libraries that we could never reach on our own –and multiplies the impact of these great thinkers and activists immeasurably.”

Launched in April 2010, TheGreenInterview.com seeks out leaders, the “green giants” of our time, for intense, searching conversations (running an hour or more), and makes those interviews available to its subscribing customers via its website. The goal of TheGreenInterview.com is to amass an unparalleled library of extended video and audio interviews with the world's environmental leaders. A few of the notable interviews currently available or in production include:
• James Lovelock, the originator of the Gaia theory, which holds that the Earth behaves like a single living organism. Lovelock's importance to science has been compared to that of Darwin.
• Paul Watson, head of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, the most powerful organization in the world in defense of whales, seals and sea life, and the hero of the hit TV series Whale Wars.
• Dr. Vandana Shiva, physicist, philosopher, environmental activist, eco-feminist, and author of numerous books on subjects like Biopiracy and Earth Democracy.
• Dr. William Rees, who devised the famous “Ecological Footprint,” which measures the proportion of the Earth's resources any group of people is using – a single person, a village or region, or the entire human race.
• The Honorable Jigme Yoser Thinley, the first democratically-elected Prime Minister of Bhutan, who is dedicated to improving Bhutan's Gross National Happiness as opposed to its Gross National Product.
• Jane Goodall, the scientist whose studies with chimpanzees redefined the nature of human beings, and whose Jane Goodall Institute programs pursue habitat restoration and involve youth in ecological action.

The complete list can be found online at http://www.thegreeninterview.com/interviews. TheGreenInterview.com content will be added to GREENR at no additional cost to current customers.

For more information on this agreement, please visit the Gale booth (#7) at the Atlantic Provinces Library Association meeting taking place May 16-18 in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada. For more information or to set up a trial of GREENR, please contact Kristina Massari at kristina.massari@cengage.com. For further information about The Green Interview, contact Silver Donald Cameron at sdc@thegreeninterview.com or phone (902) 446-5577.

About Cengage Learning and Gale
Cengage Learning is a leading provider of innovative teaching, learning and research solutions for the academic, professional and library markets worldwide. Gale, part of Cengage Learning, serves the world's information and education needs through its vast and dynamic content pools, which are used by students and consumers in their libraries, schools and on the Internet. It is best known for the accuracy, breadth and convenience of its data, addressing all types of information needs – from homework help to health questions to business profiles – in a variety of formats. For more information, visit www.cengage.com or www.gale.cengage.com.

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*** FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ***

CALIFORNIA LIBRARY ASSOCIATION SELECTS NEW MANAGEMENT PARTNER and EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
May 13, 2011

For more information contact:
Paymaneh Maghsoudi, President
California Library Association
Director of Library Services
Whittier Public Library
562-567-9920
pmaghsoudi@whittierpl.org

California Library Association (CLA), after an extensive search for a new management partner, has selected Partners in Collaboration (PIC), a joint venture of Califa and Southern California Library Cooperative (SCLC). By unanimous decision, the CLA Board of Directors voted to engage the services of PIC to provide day-to-day staff and management support for the Association effective June 1, 2011.

CLA is confident that its members, institutions, and business partners will benefit greatly from this unique and powerful collaboration. Throughout the proposal review and selection process, PIC’s superior experience, vision, and expertise in California libraries was abundantly evident. As a partnership of two well-established, trusted California library organizations, PIC is uniquely positioned to bring new value to CLA in several areas of strength. For example, Califa has a strong library technology group and can use the skills of its IT team to CLA’s distinct advantage. SCLC has an outstanding business and financial management team geared specifically to library resource development. As a partnership, PIC’s leadership and staff have wide-ranging experience in library contract negotiations, meeting organization, resource development, technology innovations, event coordination, and legislative advocacy.

With the selection of new management partner PIC, a new CLA Executive Director has also been selected: Carol Simmons brings to CLA a wealth of experience and skill in several key areas, including library leadership, collaboration, public relations, and executive management. In addition to her previous Director tenures at Daly City Public Library (CA) and Park City Public Library (UT), Carol’s collaborative leadership experience includes her service on the Public Library Association Executive Board, and as past chair of the Peninsula Library System (CA) Administrative Council.

This unique and powerful collaboration signals a new era in the history of California Library Association, and a new level of partnership and synergy for the benefit of all California libraries. These are challenging years of transition and change in libraries everywhere, and the effects are being felt by libraries and librarians across the state and the nation. CLA has remained focused on continuing its journey through these turbulent times to emerge an even stronger Association in service to its members, institutions, and business partners. CLA remains the community for all libraries in California!

As announced previously, CLA will end its association management contract with Association Resource Center (ARC) as of May 31, 2011. The Board appreciates the services that ARC has provided for the past year.

Please join CLA at its 2011 Annual Conference and Exhibition, November 11-13, 2011 at the Pasadena Convention Center. CLA will again partner with the California School Library Association to produce California’s premier annual library professional development, networking, and exhibitors’ event! Meet the CLA board members, new CLA management team, and new CLA Executive Director Carol Simmons. Connect with or reconnect with professional colleagues. Learn new trends and best practices in professional workshops and preconference sessions. See and hear amazing and inspiring speakers, including keynote speaker Sir Ken Robinson. And experience the wealth of products and services available to help you serve your library customers better by visiting our Exhibit Hall.

The CLA Board of Directors very much looks forward to this promising and exciting new chapter for CLA. CLA is deeply committed to continuously improving our services to our membership through our strong legislative presence and advocacy voice in Sacramento, with the professional development and networking opportunities afforded by our annual Conference, and by the participatory learning and collaborative environments created in our Interest Groups. With the support of new management partner PIC, the California Library Association remains fully committed to delivering these quality services and much more to our members and business partners, now and forward to the future.

Paymaneh Maghsoudi, President
California Library Association

Board of Directors:
Wayne Disher, Vice-President / President-Elect
Jackie Griffin, Treasurer
Les Kong, ALA Chapter Councilor
Tracie Carignan, Director
Barbara Flynn, Director
Mary George, Director
Sean Reinhart, Director
Patricia Rivera, Director
Monica Schultz, Director
Hillary Theyer, Director
Beth Wrenn-Estes, Director